Carpet Store Expansion Again Denied

Plans to expand Classic Carpets, 3805 Nazareth Pike, Bethlehem Township, were shot down last night for the second time in seven months by the township Zoning Hearing Board.

After the meeting, Acting Chairman Jack Taylor said the board denied the request by store owner Thomas Fodi. Any further comment, he said, would be inappropriate until the board's legal opinion is written.

As he did in July, Fodi told the zoners that he needed the expansion to accommodate business growth.

"We're cramped for space," he said.

He suggested that he would have to move the operation if he was not granted a variance to expand for office and showroom space.

He told the zoners that the proposed expansion would not be as large as the one he planned in July. In addition, the new plan would not have allowed for a potential increase in the number of commercial tenants on the property, as the former did. In fact, he said, a dry cleaning business that was operating next to the carpet store in July is no longer there.

Fodi owns the property, which also contains a golf shop and an art supplies store. He told the board he could not use some of the existing buildings because they are not high enough to accommodate bulk rolls of carpet.

The plan, he continued, would have provided for changes in his driveway scheme that would be safer and acceptable to the state Department of Transportation.

Fodi and his lawyer, Chester Reybitz, also argued that the property, which is in a residential-suburban-residential zoning district, is surrounded by the K mart Plaza to the northwest and an Elby's restaurant and a used-car lot across Nazareth Pike.

They also mentioned that Fodi was granted a variance to build the store in 1983.

Attorney Roger Theodoredis, representing neighbor Charles Hess, countered that the application was not substantially different than the one the board turned down last year.

Like another attorney who represented Hess in opposing Fodi's plans last year, Theodoredis said the plan would require eight variances. He added that Fodi demonstrated no hardship other than an economic hardship. For zoners to grant variances, they must be shown evidence of a physical hardship that does not allow the applicant to use his property in an allowable way.

"Any unique circumstances" causing a hardship, Theodoredis said, "have been totally created by the petitioner."

He said the proposal, if approved, would have violated the township zoning ordinance by permitting the expansion of a non-conforming use. Further, he said the building with the addition would have been 13 feet from Hess' property, when the zoning ordinance calls for 100 feet. Theodoredis also said the proposal violated six other sections of the zoning ordinance.

Reybitz, however, said the township "misled" Fodi when it granted approval to his plans to build his original building, since that may violate some sections of the zoning ordinance.

He also questioned Hess' claim that the addition to the building would devalue the Hess property.

In one other petition from last night, zoners denied an application by Michael O'Donnell, acting on behalf of Julia C. Miller, to construct a second sign at 8030 William Penn Highway for William Penn Auto Parts. Zoners earlier granted a variance for O'Donnell Bros. Auto Sales.

The application called for construction of a lighted sign that would be 17 feet from the curb, similar to the existing sign. O'Donnell said it was needed to help customers distinguish between the two businesses. He added that a sign on the building would not be visible from the roadway.

Asked if it would be feasible to put the second sign on the first sign's pole, O'Donnell responded, "I don't think it would do the businesses justice."

One sign for the two businesses, he added, could be confusing from the roadway, and anything smaller than the proposed 4-by-8-foot size would not be clearly visible.